CarveOne's Solsylva 25x37 Router Build

[CarveOne]

Made some unexpected progress this evening. Installed bearings on the trucks.

I ordered the 5/16" ID and 1/2" ID inch size bearings instead of the 22mm x 8mm size that was recommended. Hopefully, that won't make any difference in the adjustment range.

CarveOne

[pumelloman]

That looks so good.... I love how all your holes look like they're in the right positions lol. Did that on the mill?

Have any pics of the Dumpster AB Nuts? I was looking at the ones on their website, and yeah, I agree, they do look really well made. Expensive though! $15 a nut...but they look really good haha. You're using the 1/2"-10 single start, right? not double start?

[CarveOne]

pumelloman,

Yes, 1/2-10 1 start. The Use-Enco rods I ordered were $6.99usd each. MSC has the 2 start for $50.99usd each. I would rather have used 2 or more start though. Not a small difference in my limited build allowance.

Here's a not-too-well-focused photo of an anti-backlash nut (left) and the acme stepper coupler (right). The coupler is optional, and only eliminates having to turn the end of the acme rod to fit the hose type coupler shown on the plans.

Yeah, kinda pricey, as I bought four AB nuts and two couplers. If I end up going to 2 start (or more) rods on a future upgrade I'll have to buy them again. I don't think I would try to make them myself to save the money though I have the machinery needed to do it. They look simple enough but the effort wouldn't be worth it unless going into small production.

Yes, drilled them on the mill, mostly because drilling the corner of the angle stock would be easier on the mill. I have a cheap x-y vise on my Delta floor standing drill press that would have worked ok too. I noticed that your z axis block has two end grain holes that are well centered. Drilling mine on the mill wasn't so accurate on one of the holes. The hard red oak end grain caused the drill to wander off center a little by the time it was half way through the block. I should have used a brad point drill instead of a regular drill. If looking at it aggravates me enough I will re-drill it. Don't hold your breath while waiting to see if I do that.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

More progress this evening as I made some time available to assemble the x axis bearing trucks to the gantry end plates. There has been no attempt at this point to adjust the bearings to fit to the x axis pipe rails yet.

I think CarveOne's Area 51 Skunk Works, LLC is in serious need of a thorough cleaning up.

CarveOne

EDIT - Added two close up views of x axis bearing assemblies.

[CarveOne]

The weekend started off well, but slowly deteriorated thereafter when I started work on the z axis construction.

As I was assembling the wood blocks I discovered that I had mis-measured the lower block and it was a little too short. I made another one with the remailing short piece of left over 1x6 board. Then I discovered that the new block was cut on the wrong side of the cut line. I made a 20 mile round trip to buy another piece of 1x6. This time I cut it correctly, and I proceeded to glue the upper and lower blocks to the vertical block and went outside to do much need yard work.

Later in the evening I discovered that the lower block is supposed to be removeable so the x axis can be installed on the gantry. So I managed to break off the lower block with not much damage at the joint and cleaned it up. Then I stained the wood assembly and left it to dry overnight.

This morning I sprayed a coat of satin polyurethane on the assembly, then noticed that the top and bottom plates have the counterbored 5/16" hole and the counterbored bearing hole swapped.
Oh well, back to the drawing board and start over..................

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

FYI,

While at at the local Lowes home center buying the remaining small bolts and nuts I found some chromed pipe plugs that fit the 3/4" EMT tubing. The "fingers" fit loosely until you bend them outward enough that the fingers need to be compressed a little to insert them into the tubing. The plug OD is a perfect match to the tubing. Gives the tubing a "finished" appearance and keeps unwelcome critters from building homes in the tubing. (eeeeekkkk!!)

Hillman Metal Hole Plugs # H881267 costs a little over $1.00 usd each in this area. They also had 1/2" plugs but I didn't get any yet.

CarveOne

[pumelloman]

Whoa! EMT endcaps? I think I'll have to pick some of those up next day....I was wondering how I would seal those. I've seen some other people do some designs to hold the 1/2" parallel near the top (especially when the cutter is lowered), but I'm not sure if I will need this kind of fixture ....yet.

[CarveOne]

The z axis is assembled and installed on the gantry. The 1/4" polycarbonate plastic side plates look good but if they crack under stress I'll make 1/4" aluminum replacements.

All of the steppers are mounted and DumpsterCNC acme couplers are installed on the y and z axis stepper shafts.

The belt idler is assembled and installed.

Neat trick -Two US nickels were used to seat one of the bearings a little over 1/8" deep into the PVC coupler. They are the perfect diameter that covers the outer bearing race but doesn't get stuck in the coupler. I couldn't find any washers around here that fit as well as the coins.

Tomorrow I'll work on modifying and mounting the DumpsterCNC anti-backlash nuts and make new bearing support blocks for the larger 1/2" ID / 1-1/8" OD bearings. I'll also take some outdoor pics without the junky work room clutter for a background.

CarveOne

[pumelloman]

Originally Posted by CarveOne Neat trick -Two US nickels were used to seat one of the bearings a little over 1/8" deep into the PVC coupler. They are the perfect diameter that covers the outer bearing race but doesn't get stuck in the coupler. I couldn't find any washers around here that fit as well as the coins. CarveOne

We (my girlfriend and I) worked on my machine today a lot too, we made the stepper motor mounting plates, finished the bearing mounts, and started assembly ^^

Ah....Nickel....today I tried using a washer, but it was exactly the same diameter as the bearing... My girlfriend said "won't the washer get stuck in the PVC tubing?" but I was too excited about how close I was to assembly/finishing and I pressed the washer in anyways. Then it got stuck... and it was super hard to get out... sigh....

Your machine looks so good... I love the polycarbonate!!!!! My uncle brought me some clear Acrylic or something from the insides of LCD monitors to make my windows for my enclosure, when and if I make it. Are you worried much about dust for your machine?

[CarveOne]

If you don't have any of those old (recently devalued) US nickels lying around maybe the Canadian version is about right also. Last time I saw one many years ago when I was on TDY training duty at Selfridge AFB in Michigan they were slightly smaller and had small facets around the edge. Are they still like that?

Otherwise, just grind off a little around the washer's perimeter until it fits correctly. A US nickel is 0.836" (21.24mm) diameter and you can go to 0.855" (21.72mm) according to my cheap HF digital cow pliers (calipers).

I thought about mounting my idler assembly in the lathe and skim off just enough plastic to clean off the two small humps and true up the surface, but I'll wait and see it it needs it once the router table is running. It's more or less running nearly wobble free. I'll set the belt to run right in the shallow valley between the bearings.

After seating the bearings I warmed up my toaster oven a little and turned it off. Then I put the idler assembly in and let it warm up for a few minutes to relieve some of the stress.

I'm going to make two 3/4" thick by 3-1/4" wide by 6-1/2" long red oak router mounts so that I can use a $20 HF trim router or a $49 refurb Ryobi 1.5 hp router. The z slider will have 1/4-20 tee-nuts mounted from the backside. 1-1/2" bolts will attach the mounts to the z slider assembly. The routers will be held in place on the mounts with oak or 1/4" aluminum clamps.

Dust? The Ryobi blows air downward with lots of force. That means the chips and dust will go everywhere, probably even with a ShopVac connected to a dust shoe. If the shoe has a removeable solid bottom plate that has an opening just slightly larger than the cutter I may not need a ShopVac, just an exhaust hose.

ps - If your girlfriend voluntarily helps with the router table construction then she's a keeper. Don't let her get away.

CarveOne

[pumelloman]

Yeah, the nickels are still pretty much like that, they haven't really changed the coin design in ages... (but they're worth more now! I'm using this opportunity to buy all things eBay haha).

Hmm I have been thinking about doing the same thing for a router, I have a craftsman router that's pretty old that I was thinking about using to cut cabinet doors or something. It's only a 1/4" collect (I think) so I'm not sure if there's any advantage over the 1/4" trim router (Porter Cable) which I received yesterday. Although the craftsman is 6.5 amps....hmmmm...

Yeahhhhh she said she really found it fun to work on the CNC... I'm so happy..

I found out also that my table is TOO SMALL (!!!!!) it's not wide enough! oh my god...how am I going to build an enclosure if the router doesn't even fit on the table...

[CarveOne]

pumelloman,

You can use a half sheet of MDF on top of the table to make it wider and it will also act as waste material - unless you add a second layer of 1/4" hardboard as the waste material and preserve the 3/4" MDF layer as just support for the cnc router table.

I roughed out the trim router mount today and installed it. The $20 trim router's plastic housing is not a perfect cylinder but the removable mount seems to work ok. It was easier to make this mount than the wider mount for the Ryobi. This one will work for "air cutting" and 2D parts cutting purposes.

CarveOne